X-com: effect unknown
by arenov
Summary: Loco, Nuke, Low rider, Athena and fixer have just finished clearing out the final aliens on the sight of a terror mission and are just about to make their way back to the skyranger when a strange ship practically crashes and three entirely new species of alien reveal themselves. This can only go well(!) Side notes: they aren't called by those nicknames for no reason. first piece.
1. Chapter 1

"Loco, Watch it!" Nuke yelled down.

"Damn!" Loco yelled as she dived to avoid a large object that crashed down right where she stood a minute ago, she quickly dashed to cover "Thanks for the heads up, Nuke."

"No problem," she replied "now, what is that thing?"

"It looks like another ship, be ready." Dr Vahlen told them.

"Scope's on the ship," low rider replied.

"Rocket ready," Athena said.

"Med kits prepared," fixer informed the team.

Suddenly, the ship's side door opened and five creatures stepped out.

"More species of alien?" Vahlen yelled.

"This is going to hell, quickly," loco whispered.

"Shot ready to fire," Nuke said, aiming into the centre of the group with her launcher.

"Do it!" Loco yelled, the command responded to immediately.

The sight of the rocket made the aliens dash for cover.

"The aliens appear to be more humanoid than any previously seen," Vahlen observed "this is most… unnerving."

Loco gave the order to reload and wait to see what the enemy does.

She was the only one on street level, so the only one who really needed to worry about return fire, however, the suits of everyone in the squad had an in-built grappling hook, so she could escape quickly with minimal trouble.

One alien, a green one with, what looked like, an exoskeleton peeked over the wall it'd taken cover behind and began glancing around.

Another, wearing some kind of enviro-suit began, waving a glowing arm around, then looking at it, as if scanning for something, then it pointed out loco to their, apparent, leader, who began, slowly walking towards her with its weapons holstered and it's 'hands' in plain view.

"It appears to be surrendering. Perhaps not all aliens are here to kill us," Vahlen said.

"Fixer, flank and stun the others," loco whispered over the coms "I'll deal with this one," she turned to the advancing alien "Hello? Do you speak English?"

"Yes, I speak English," it replied, in a human-like voice.

At that moment two short, loud buzzes were heard and the other two aliens dropped to the floor unconscious, this was followed by loco punching the last, knocking it out cold.


	2. Chapter 2

"These aliens are practically human, based upon our observations, the grey one, if disguised well enough, could be the perfect infiltrator," Dr Vahlen reported.

"Then let's hope they're not hostile races, like the rest," loco replied.

She was a battle-hardened Asian woman with short hair, swept to one side.

"If they are, we'll be ready!" Nuke chuckled.

She was an African-American woman with hair in a short ponytail, also battle-hardened, she was a rather bulky one, but that can be expected from a heavy.

"They seem to not be hostile, based upon behavioural observations, more research must be conducted. Sorry Delago, that means that the Psi armour you were hoping for will be delayed further than we'd hoped."

Nuke (Rosa Delago) was a psi specialist but felt she didn't possess enough psionic energy to employ them to an effective extent.

"However, the grey one seems to possess psionic powers of almost equal strength to the 'ethereal' as you call them, this research may provide us with a more accessible source of these abilities, maybe even accessible to your entire team. This could revolutionize combat to such an extent that guns may not even be necessary to win this war!"

"Sounds good," Loco quickly replied "keep researching the specimens."

"I agree Colonel and I appreciate your support."

Loco had a natural interest in these aliens and is always eager to hear the results of Vahlen's research on each individual species. She had a deep interest in all of Vahlen's research and had much respect for the German scientist. Some troopers even theorize that there is love involved in the relationship they share.

"In the mean-time, Col. Amar and Col. Stuart wish to speak with you, they're in the barracks."

"Looks like they finally let Cowboy and Sentinel out of the med-bay," Loco, chuckled, walking away.

"Loco, hey were hit by a truck!" Nuke told her, following.

"You'd think at least Cowboy would see it coming, him being the dead-eye he is," Loco joked.

"Just shut up."

**Side note: Loco isn't crazy, she was just nicknamed that because of her reckless nature on the battlefield. If anyone takes any kind of offence in this or any other chapters, I can assure you I had no intention on such a thing and I apologise in advance.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Days pass…**

Loco had insisted on guarding the specimens overnight and it was affecting her performance until tonight, she simply couldn't keep her eyes open any longer than two seconds at a time and as she slowly drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep, she could swear she heard voices.

After a few hours, she was awoken by the sound of the cells smashing open, but when she looked the aliens were gone.

She quickly grabbed her plasma rifle and took off into the 'ant farm' to find the now escaped aliens.

It didn't take long to pick up the sound of the voices she'd heard before falling asleep. Assuming it was the aliens, she sprinted down the corridor to where the voices were, finding, surely enough, the aliens, arguing over where to go at a six-way intersection.

"Your game is so damn over," Loco said, raising her rifle to head level of the grey alien, only to be taken to the floor by the one with the exoskeleton.

After the short scuffle that followed, Loco found herself with her back to the floor and her plasma pistol to her face.

"Lay off, Garrus!" the grey one finally said, shocking Loco slightly.

"Y-you speak English?" she asked the aliens, as she got to her feet "Why the hell didn't you say anything during the interrogations?"

The alien know as 'Garrus' spoke in its native tongue, confusing her.

"Wait, wait, how in the der'mo can you speak English but they can't?"

This time it was the grey alien's turn to be confused.

"Well you're all aliens, yet you can speak fluent English. How?"

"Oh, the helmet!" The grey alien replied, removing it's helmet to reveal a red-head human underneath.

All Loco could do in response was do an impression of a newsreader for a few seconds before eventually saying:

"What the… What the F…" she then began yelling angrily in Russian.

**Note 1: to understand the newsreader thing use this URL: watch?v=k-kG3sVIQdc and fast forward it to the 0:49 point.**

**Note 2: Even though Loco can fluently speak English, she temporarily forgets how to speak it when angry enough.**

**Note 3: Sorry for the wait.**

**Thanks to:**

**Illuviar: for telling me that this isn't just another let-down**

**Coduss: for telling me that I've actually been accurate. But just you wait. I'll slip up, eventually.**

**All followers: for following, I never thought it'd ever even reach one!**

**You: for sticking around this long**


End file.
